by: Rita Rail

I keep on repeating that poms are very smart and can drive you crazy trying to find out what makes them tick. You might have one like my Crystal who does not really care about anything except food and lots of love and comfort. Emily, on the other hand can drive you to distraction with her dominance and trying to make you understand what she wants even to the point of teaching me her different dog barks to please her. At least I am getting somewhere even if it means talking “dog’. This is my experience. When I groom Emily, I have to have a muzzle on her except when she decides she will not bite me. Other days she will be very good, except for her nails when she always needs a muzzle. When at the groomers, she is the best behaved little ball of fire. Crystal takes everything in stride. It seems that your dog is stressed out at the groomers. Your pom is exactly the opposite of Emily. I know that in the beginning that is why Emily went to the groomers, my hands were bitten and she can turn on a dime, needless to say, we were both stressed out. She would grab my brush and try to bite it even though she was wearing a muzzle there wasn’t anything she would not do to get away. She was an angel at the groomers and I actually witnessed her nails cut and this threw me for a loop, no yelping, no nips, making me feel that I removing the whole leg whenever I tried to do her nails. She has learned to tolerate me to a certain extent but she advises me by her growling language how far I can go, I really pay attention. She is goes to the groomers only once a year as I am afraid to use scissors and or clippers for a long period of time but I do her bi-weekly the balance of the year. You have not mentioned that you are trying to groom her yourself, perhaps you should try at least every week if only for fifteen minutes. I think she has a fear of grooming and if you do the short periods of time, she may overcome this. Please keep us up to date. Take care. RR